College [c. hood]

08

Calum was in the common room eating his lunch, Michael had a girl in their room and he didn't want to intrude. Jacob and Kurtis were at the table with him while he ate.

Jacob and Kurtis lived in the room next to them, they were probably the two Michael and Calum were closest to of the people on the floor. Though he was friends with most of the people on this floor.

"Dude, is Michael with Tori or Yasmin?" Jacob asks, scrolling through Instagram.

"Uh, Yasmin, I think?" Calum replies, taking a sip of his drink.

Calum has been thinking about Danielle and Alyssa both a lot the past week. He's also avoided the both of them. It was hard to avoid Alyssa, considering most of their classes were together. It was easier to avoid Danielle since they don't go to school together or live in the same building, but he couldn't ignore all of her texts and calls.

"Are you okay? You seem really out of it." Kurtis says, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Shit, yeah, sorry." Calum chuckles, looking up as he hears the common room door open.

The three guys all greet Erin as she walks through the door and sits on one of the leather armchairs by the table, though the chairs are meant more for watching the tv mounted to the wall.

"What's going on here?" Erin asks, looking over at the three guys sitting at the table.

"Calum has been distraught all week and it's getting worse. He keeps zoning out." Jacob says, nodding over at Calum.

"I noticed. He ran into me when leaving the common room earlier because he was so deep in thought." Erin chuckles, "So, Cal, what's up?"

Calum just sighs, shaking his head, "Nothing really. Just stress, no sleep, the usual."

That was partially true, but obviously that wasn't why he's distracted. He just didn't want to start telling people he wasn't that close to about his problems. News travels fast across the fifth floor, and it could travel through the whole building even faster.

"Not sure if I believe you, but sure." Kurtis laughs, before stealing a bite of Calum's food.

Calum notices Yasmin walk towards the elevator as he looks through the glass door of the common room. He was glad, he just wanted to get back to his room and into his bed.

"I'm heading back to my room now, but if you guys ever need anything I'm always just down the hall." Calum says, standing up and walking towards the door.

He makes his way to his room, swiping his card to unlock the door.

"Hey, man." Michael says, looking up from his bowl of cereal he's eating at their table.

"Hey, did you have a good night? I left this morning because I heard you were having a good morning too." Calum chuckles, putting his dishes in their sink.

Michael smirks, "Yeah, yeah it was pretty great."

"Dani has been texting me, she wants to FaceTime." Calum says, heading towards his room.

"You should tell her you want to fuck Alyssa." Michael calmly replies.

"Michael! Don't say shit like that!" Calum exclaims, letting out a groan.

He sits on his bed, opening his laptop to FaceTime his girlfriend. Seconds after opening his laptop, a call from Danielle comes through.

"Hey, Dani." Calum smiles.

"Cal! How've you been?" She asks, a smile stretched across her face.

"I'm great, I've been talking to more people that live on my floor. It's been fun. Are you going to come up here for the Halloween party next week?" Calum asks, "You'd get to meet everybody."

"I'd love to! That'd be great!" She exclaims, excited to get to meet all of Calum's new friends.

Once she agreed, Calum realized that maybe inviting Danielle to a party where most students from residence will be isn't a good idea.

He'd probably have to introduce Alyssa and Danielle to each other, when neither of them know of the other. Calum pushed the thought away, really not wanting to think about this and panic while still on FaceTime with his girlfriend.

"Cal?" Danielle calls, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, sorry, yeah?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" She questions, looking worried.

"Babe, don't worry. I'm fine. I'm gonna have to go though. I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah, I'll see you soon. I love you."

"Love you." Calum mutters in response, a small smile on his face before the call ends.

Calum sighs, groaning as he falls back and his head hits the pillow.

"So you're lying to your girlfriend now?" Michael asks as he walking into Calum's room and sitting at the chair at his desk.

"No, stop it! I love her!" Calum replies.

"In what universe?" Michael chuckles as he looks over at his roommate.

"Michael!" Calum groans, rolling his eyes.

Calum sits up, looking up at Michael seated in the corner of his room. Calum just shook his head at him, frustrated with how he's acting.

"I'm just saying. I hope you thought this through." Michael tells him, "Though, I don't think you have. Let me know when you introduce Alyssa and Danielle, I'll stop playing beer pong to see it."

"God, I fucking hate you." Calum mutters, as Michael starts to make his way towards the door.

"No, we're best friends for life now that we're college roommates." Michael states, and stops in his tracks, turning back to face Calum, "And you don't hate me, you just hate the fact that everything I'm saying is right."

Michael walks out of the room, and Calum groans, throwing a pillow at the door in hopes he can hit him, but Michael closes the door. Calum just stares at the pillow on the floor, not knowing what to do.

He just sits there for a few minutes before grabbing his phone to type out a text to Alyssa. Deep down he knew he was giving the wrong impression to Alyssa, but in this moment he didn't care.

Calum wanted to hang out with somebody who wouldn't be judging him, who he could have a good time with. He knew his first response should've been to text Danielle, but it wasn't.

Alyssa replied saying she'd love to, so Calum got up to grab his books and his wallet, so he could study and go to dinner with Alyssa like he invited her to.

_________

I'm so happy that at least more than one person is reading this thank u so much